Bed-wetting 101 (age 5)

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I kept my son in pull ups at night till he could stay dry until getting up to go potty in the morning. I helped him out a little. Around 3 years old, for a week or so I would limit drinks after dinner (making sure he got PLENTY throughout the day before dinner), then I would give him a salty snack before bed. He has been dry ever since then! A few times he has woken up in the middle of the night to go potty, but mostly he can wait till morning.

Because of my parents divorcing when I was 5, I had several bed wetting incidents until I was 11. I know my son is healthy and happy at 5, so I never get upset when he overflows his pull-up. His father may see it differently from a "mans" point of view (yes, we're happily married), but he calmed down when I shared this article with him. Love Baby Center for helping our family to communicate! :-)

Moms, don't worry about it! I don't. My daughter is 5 years old and still sleeps in Pull-Ups (though now we are moving on to Good Nights). She still wets her Pull Ups every night, sometimes they are very saturated in the morning. But guess what, I don't get woken up to have to clean her up, there is no mess, and she stays dry all night. As long as your child is fine during the day, don't sweat it at night. I have known children who wet their bed past 6 years old and then they'll just stop. It's not their fault, like the article says it's just their bladder is not mature enough yet, there's nothing you can do about it and it will stop on its own in time. Whatever you do, don't shame your child about something that they really can't help, it may scar them psychologically.

My son is 5 and he wakes every night wet. We still have him in pull-ups because I got so sick of doing so much laundry. I feel so bad for him because I know there's nothing I can do about it. But he cleans himself off every morning, throws his pull-up away, and gets ready. He's a mature little boy, but the wetting at night is just something he can't control. He sleeps too heavily!

Who's trying to sell anything??I only see an excellent recommendation for trying the Feingold diet, which is honestly how ALL Humans are designed to eat anyway!! Do some research, You will find Natural, whole foods are the Best 'treatment/medicine' available for healthy people.

However I can't say it has any effect on bedwetting, as We have ALWAYS fed our children this way and our son (almost 6) still cannot wake during the night.

One thing that often gets overlooked is the child's diet. Many people have had success when they remove petroleum-based dyes (artificial food coloring) and other artificial ingredients from their child's diet. Dairy can also play a role with some kids. See http://www.feingold.org/bedwetting.php for some more details. You can see results in just a few days (we sure did).

My oldest son was still wetting his bed on an almost nightly basis at age six. We were concerned about how it would impact him emotionally because his younger brother had been staying dry through the night for a while. Our pediatrician suggested the Potty Pager (www.pottypager.com). I was skeptical about its effectiveness, but it was a true miracle. It was amazing how quickly it worked. He has been dry with no relapses for the past four months. I would highly recommend it!

This addresses bed wetting, but what about the day time accidents. My 5 1/2 year old daughter began having occasional accidents her first week of Kindergarten and we attributed it to the change and excitement of Kindergarten, but half way through the school year now, she has an average of 1-3 accidents a week. She ends up going to the bathroom when it is too late and already begins to wet her pants (we think she gets caught up with whatever activity she is doing and tries to hold it, but then it is too late). She is a happy well adjusted child who never had this problem since being potty trained at age 3. Any suggestions?

I was a big kid bedwetter also (as well as my siblings) and I was always so ashamed of it. I would have nightmares about my friends finding out that I wet the bed and when I did wet the bed away from home I was so humiliated. I thank the Lord for the invention of pull-ups so that my almost 9 year old daughter doesn't have to go through what I did since she seems to have inherited my bedwetting problems. Even though I had the problem, I still have to keep reminding myself that it's a physical issue for her, not a behavioral issue or just plain laziness.

Our 5 year old son was an intermittant bed wetter. He could be dry for a week and then wet every night for a month. We purchased a bed wetting alarm and he bought into the entire philosophy of taking control and beating the alarm by getting to the bathroom on time. We also had favourite family trips for ever increasing consecutive dry nights, big incentive! We had a euphoric 3 months of huge improvements until he finally had 14 dry nights in a row and we abandoned the alarm.He continued for a further month completely dry. After a brief relapse when we reverted to the alarm again he is dry again. I'm not complacent that its all over, but he has had a huge confidence boost from his new skill. My husband and I had occasionally tried pull ups and occasionally lifting at night in the past and I feel we encouraged the problem by taking responsibility for his bladder out of his control. The alarms are not expensive and for the big boost that they gave our son I am eternally grateful.

I was a bed-wetter as a child. I did it all the way until I was about 12 or 13. It was very hard for me to deal with growing up. My family including my parents would tease me. I guess my parents thought by calling me a baby, it would make me quit. I found out that it did run through my dad's side of the family, but it was mostly woman. My aunt did it, and my cousin did it. To this day I don't know why I did it, but it finally stopped when I became a teenager. Now I am happily married with an 18 month old and 3 months pregnant with my 2nd child. I was always afraid this would haunt me forever. I thought when I was pregnant with my first son that I would have wet the bed with all the pressure on my bladder, but I didn't. I just want parents to know that children can not always control their bladder when they are sleeping. Please be supportive, and try to get professional help for them. I would not want any child to have to deal with this!

We have worked with and cured thousands of children and infused their parents with hope at the Enuresis Treatment Center in Farmington, MI. Besides being a deep sleep disorder, research shows that bedwetting is also genetic. If both parents have a history of bedwetting there is a 77% chance the child will also wet the bed. The average length of treatment is 6 months, and we are certain we can correct the sleep disorder and end bedwetting. Go to www.freebedwettingguide.com for more info.

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